Last week I wrote about the “great resignation”.  The reality is, not every organization is experiencing high turnover yet, but studies show there is a wave coming, and the prediction is daunting! In fact, I was speaking with an HR director this week who said they are not experiencing the high turnover she is hearing and reading about, and she hopes that their company will not.

That said, what can you, as a leader, HR professional or decision maker at an organization do to prevent the expected high rate of turnover?

There are a lot of conversations pointing to the importance of offering a flexible work environment. From working with and speaking with numerous organizations, leaders, and HR professionals, they are trying to figure out what the future of work will look like. One of, if not the most important part of this process is to understand what your employees, individually, are hoping for!

What this points to is the importance of knowing your employees on a personal level. When considering the employee experience, I have often witnessed leaders who feel that they are “engaging” their employees by throwing additional money at them through increased salaries or bonuses. Often times this is a wasted investment. For some, money is a motivator, but for most, it is not the solution to engaging and retaining them!

One of the most important lessons I learned over the years is that there is not one solution for all. It’s important for managers to know what’s important to their direct reports individually – and respond accordingly! If you don’t take the time to know what motivates each of your direct reports, what you do to try to retain them is a shot in the dark.

It’s important to focus on the Human!

I’ve known many companies that claim they want their employees to bring their “whole selves” to work, but the managers don’t want to deal with the individual’s “personal” issues. This doesn’t align. When trying to build a culture, there has to be alignment between what is desired, and the work needed to achieve and sustain it!

If you want to retain employees, it’s likely you will need to create a culture of care, trust, and respect. Hold your people managers accountable to have the conversations with their direct reports to get to know them as “humans”, to get to know what’s important to them, and respond!  Show that you care, and that you value them and their individual needs and desires.

Looking for a partner for your managers to become more effective leaders, especially in an effort to retain talent? Preparing for the future of work and want a partner to help you evaluate and roll-out the best approach? If you have made a recent investment in a new hire, are you considering offering them  support to ensure they succeed and are engaged? If you answered yes to any of these questions, let’s connect.

“Employees engage with employers and brands when they’re treated as humans worthy of respect.” – Meghan M. Biro